Visits to the Fourth
by Kitsune Moonstar
Summary: Four times Shunsui took Nanao to the Fourth Division and one time he didn't.
1. Nanao

Author's note: I do not own Bleach or its characters.

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><p><strong>Four Times That Nanao Took Shunsui to the Fourth Division and One Time She Did Not<strong>

**1**

The first time Nanao Ise took Shunsui Kyoraku to the Fourth Division was two weeks after Lisa had disappeared. It had been shortly after the young shinigami had sought her captain out in his office. To be honest, Nanao did not remember much of the details of that conversation, just that she cried all over her captain which was embarrassing. However, ever since that night, things had been changing at the Eighth and getting closer to being back to normal. That made Nanao much happier. Still, this morning Nanao had stopped by the Eighth Division office to check on Captain Kyoraku and found him moaning in pain. So she had dragged him off to the Fourth.

Captain Unohana had been bemused at the little girl presenting her captain and asking for him to be fixed. There was really nothing wrong with Kyoraku save for his hangover which was his own fault. Still, it was understandable, and Retsu was pleased that Shunsui was finally getting over his depression. So she treated him for the hangover and carefully watched the interactions between Shunsui and his tiny division member. Retsu liked what she was seeing. Nanao Ise was going to be a very good addition to the Eighth, and she was good for Shunsui. It would be interesting to see this relationship as the little girl grew up. She wasn't sure if Shunsui would know what hit him.

**2**

The second time Nanao took Captain Kyoraku to the Fourth Division, he was trying to keep anyone from noticing he was injured and Nanao was helping him in that endeavor. They had just returned from a joint mission with the Thirteenth that might not have been disastrous but had definitely gone wrong. Captain Ukitake had an attack in the middle of the battle, and everything had fallen apart from there. Quite honestly, if it weren't for her own skill with kidou and Captain Kyoraku's own skills, they could all have died.

They had just gotten back through the gate when Nanao had realized that her captain was injured. She knew why he was hiding it though. Captain Ukitake was conscious again at this point, and he blamed himself for the problems on the mission, though not all of them were his fault. And he certainly couldn't control when his disease acted up. Captain Kyoraku wanted to spare his friend's feelings, and Nanao could understand and respect that. So she helped support him until they made their way into the Fourth via a side entrance and could have Isane discreetly patch up the slash in his side. To this day, Captain Ukitake doesn't know that Captain Kyoraku had been injured during the battle, and Nanao intended to keep it that way.

**3**

The third time his Nanao-chan took him to the Fourth, she believed it was her fault. Shunsui disagreed but convincing her of that proved impossible. Technically, it was a training accident. The two of them had been distracted by another division member in the midst of sword practice, and Nanao had ended ramming the tint that was her zanpakutou into his side. All things considered, it wasn't a bad wound, but Nanao seemed beside herself. Shunsui wasn't too worried about the injury itself. Retsu would have him patched up in no time, but he was concerned about what this might do to his Nanao-chan's confidence. She was newly promoted to her position as his lieutenant, and Shunsui worried about her a fair amount.

He knew that she was quite capable, both when it came to administrative work and when it came to fighting. Her sword work was sadly neglected, but that was at least understandable. Her zanpakutou was a tanto even in its sealed form, and there were not many people in the Seireitei who knew how to best utilize such a weapon. It had taken Shunsui awhile to figure out a proper training program for Nanao, but she was coming along nicely now, and he didn't know she would be an expert with her little blade before long. That was if she didn't let this incident put her off. So even as Nanao fussed over him and apologized with Isane began dealing with the wound, Shunsui just brushed it off with a kiss to her forehead and complement on utilizing his distraction.

**4**

The fourth time Nanao took Shunsui to the Fourth Division, it was oddly routine. In fact, it was very reminiscent of her daily routine with the man. Quite frankly the only reason she was doing this at all was because she knew that if she didn't take him, he wouldn't come and get his flu shot. Especially since he's been avoiding it for the past two weeks. So Nanao had cleared her schedule for this afternoon as well as her captain's and was devoting her time to dragging the man to the Fourth and forcing him to get that shot. She was not going to have a repeat of last year when nearly two thirds of the Eighth Division fell ill around the same time. It had been a mess.

So despite Shunsui's fussing, whining, excuses, and pleading with her (not to mention outright bribery; he'd offered to do two weeks worth of paperwork), Nanao had not let him off the hook. She hadn't let him out of her sight for a moment from the time she had ambushed him napping on the roof until they were actually in the room receiving the shot. It had not exactly been the most enjoyable afternoon that Nanao had spent with her captain, but at least she had accomplished her goals. And once Shunsui had gotten the shot, she had produced a flask of sake for if only to shut the man up.

**1**

It had been a joint mission for Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyoraku, and she had been left behind. Nanao's first inkling that something was wrong had been when Kiyone and Sentaro had stopped by her office to find out how her captain was doing. Nanao hadn't even known that he was back yet. Still she wasn't too alarmed. Kyoraku and Ukitake did have a tendency to get into trouble at times, but their missions hardly ever resulted in anything other than minor injuries. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check in with the Fourth once she had gotten the stack of paperwork completed. So it had been nearly an hour later when Nanao had made her way over to the Fourth Division. And she had known immediately that something was seriously wrong once she had arrived.

Especially when Isane paled at the sigh of her. The other lieutenant quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her off to one of the patient rooms.

"I need you to keep Captain Ukitake calm. His injuries are fairly minor, but he had an attack of his illness, and Captain Unohana is worried." Isane bit his lip. "I was staying with him, but she just sent a messenger to get me. I'll be back as soon as I can with news about Captain Kyoraku."

That was all the information she was given. Nanao found Captain Ukitake propped up in the bed, looking pale and extremely worried.

"Captain Ukitake?" Nanao stood in the doorway. "Isane thought I should wait with you."

"You don't know." If it was possible, he paled further.

Nanao frowned, stepping into the room. "Know what?"

"Come sit down, and I'll tell you."

The news was not good. Apparently, their mission had gone well up until the very end. Then disaster had struck. It had been a perfect storm of things going wrong at the end. Between an abundance of dangerous hollows, several civilians, Ukitake's illness, and a technical glitch getting back to the Seireitei, Shunsui had been in pretty bad shape by the time they had gotten home. Captain Unohana was still working on him.

Nanao was afraid she wasn't that good company after finding out that her captain had massive internal bleeding which had yet to be controlled, but at least neither she nor Captain Ukitake had to wait alone. Still, by the time that Captain Unohana appeared in the doorway, Nanao had nearly worried herself into a panic. She just didn't know what she would do if Shunsui didn't make it.

"Shunsui is stable. He's still unconscious, but you're more than welcome to sit with him, Lieutenant Ise. He's in the room just down the hall."

She gratefully made her escape. Hearing that Shunsui was stable was one thing. But Nanao knew she wouldn't really believe it until she could confirm it with her own senses. There was even a chair waiting for her beside his bedside. Nanao pulled it closer to the bed and slid one of her small hands into his much larger one. The sight of his chest rising and falling as he breathed and the sound of his breath, the fell of his pulse beneath her fingers, and the soft thrum of his reiatsu all reassured her that he was still there with her. Something in her chest finally began to loosen.


	2. Shunsui

Author's note: I do not own Bleach or its characters.

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><p><strong>Four Times Shunsui Took Nanao to the Fourth Division and One Time He Did Not<strong>

**1**

The first time that Shunsui Kyoraku took Nanao Ise to the Fourth Division, she was still a little girl. She wasn't acting very much like a little girl though. Nanao had been injured in a fight with several older shinigami. A fight which she had won. Shunsui didn't know what had goaded the young girl into actually fighting, but whatever it was it must have been serious us. She was walked away from the fight with bruises and a couple of very bad gashes. Then she had promptly collapsed of exhaustion. Shunsui wasn't surprise. Nanao had used very advanced kidou for such a young shinigami.

He had been informed of the fight too late to stop, and when he arrived in order to break it up, Nanao was almost done. He was impressed by her skill, but he would have preferred that the littlest member of his division not be injured. Shunsui wanted to know very much what had caused this whole incident, but that would wait. First he needed to get Nanao taken care of. Thankfully, it only took Retsu a matter of minutes to deal with Nanao's wounds, and Nanao remained stoic throughout it as well as protested when Shunsui scooped her up in a hug afterwards. He was relieved she was all right though and insisted on carrying her back to the Eighth.

**2**

The second time Shunsui took Nanao to the Fourth, it was in the aftermath of a mission. It was a mission that Shunsui hadn't been on which was something he regretted when the team came staggering back to the Seireitei. He had been supporting Nanao within moments. She was the worst off of them. His petite little fifth seat might look like a fifteen year old, but she packed a hell of a punch. Everyone else was just exhausted, bruised, and limping. Nanao was bleeding. Shunsui didn't give her a chance to protest, sweeping her up in his arms and having her at the Fourth within moments.

As it turned out, her world was not all that bad. She would be on light duty for the next week or so, but other than that she would be fine. But Shunsui would never forget how terrified he had been when he saw the bloodstains on her clothes and skin. It really hadn't been until that moment that Shunsui had really realized how much Nanao had invaded his life. It also hadn't been clear until now just how powerful Nanao really was until now. In order to save her team, she had pulled off shikai. That made her the most viable candidate to be the new lieutenant for the Eighth Division. None of the others had really worked out, but somehow Shunsui rather thought that Nanao was perfectly suited to the job.

**3**

The third time Shunsui took his Nanao-chan to the Fourth, he blamed himself. She had collapsed from exhaustion in the office this afternoon, and really, he had only himself to blame. He knew that Nanao had been working herself harder than she should lately. She had been trying to get the division caught up with all the paperwork that had back logged while the Eighth had struggled to find a permanent lieutenant. And Shunsui had to admit that he hadn't exactly been helpful in that endeavor. Paperwork had never been one of his strong suits, and most of the time he ignored it. That was one of the main reasons why his lieutenants mainly dealt with it.

But he wasn't going to be able to do that anymore if it got Nanao hurt. Of course, under most circumstances, Nanao was quite good at getting him to do what she needed. Only this time she hadn't badgered him into doing the work. Shunsui didn't know why, but he would have to find out. He wasn't about to let this happen again. He'd known that Nanao was as important to him as Jyuu for years. He'd known he'd loved her for years. But he hadn't really realized that he was in love with her until she passed out in his arms. He was in love with Nanao Ise. Now he just had to figure out what to do about it.

**4**

The fourth time Shunsui took Nanao to the Fourth Division, Jyuushiro couldn't help noticing how far they had come. He had always been aware that his best friend and Nanao Ise had something special. That had been clear from the moment that Nanao came into Shunsui's life. However, getting the two of them to do something constructive about that relationship had always been a dilemma. But both the Winter War and some missions that went rather badly had gotten the two to the point where they had actually confessed to one another how they felt. Of course, some things never changed.

Such as Shunsui fussing over Nanao when it came to the slightest injury. The injury that she had received in a training session was nothing serious and, quite honestly, didn't even require a trip to the Fourth. One of the division members with medical training could have taken care of it. Hell, Shunsui could have taken care of it himself. Actually, that was what he was doing since the Fourth had been overwhelmed with patients from a mission gone bad just moments before Shunsui and Nanao had arrived her. Retsu had ordered Jyuu to keep the pair out of her hair. So Jyuushiro watched as Shunsui bandaged Nanao's burnt hand, and despite her eye rolls, there was affection in her expression as she let him. And she didn't protest the kiss pressed to her bandaged palm or her lips afterward either.

**1**

Shunsui was enjoying the sunshine. Nanao had kicked him out of the office, claiming he was driving her to distraction. He had decided to humor her, at least for a little while, and had set up camp under one of the cherry trees and decided to take a nap. It was a warm spring day, and there wasn't much that was better than spending it out of doors in the sunshine. Eventually, Nanao would relent and let him go back to napping on the couch in the office. Even if he would much prefer if she was the one napping. She worked herself too hard even given her limited duties right now, but Shunsui was really not interested in getting into that particular fight with her again right now.

He was rather surprised to be interrupted less than a half hour later by Jyuushiro. There was something almost mischievous in the man's smile as he looked down at him.

"Nanao wants you. She's at the Fourth."

Shunsui was on his feet immediately, frowning. "What is she doing at the Fourth?"

Jyuu's grin widened. "She's in labor. That tends to happen with pregnant women."

"Her due date isn't for another week."

Shunsui was at the Fourth within seconds, though he swore he could hear Jyuu's laughter ringing behind him. It did not take him long to locate his Nanao-chan once he had arrived though. He just followed the sound of the very loud cursing that really wasn't like her at all. Shunsui took his place at her side, and immediately his hand was engulfed in a very tight grip. Nanao simply glanced at him then clearly and calmly said, "I'm going to kill you."

He just squeezed her hand. "That's nice, Nanao-chan, but right now I think Retsu wants you to push."

It was five hours and three broken bones (Nanao had quite a grip at times) later that the ordeal was finally over with. Retsu gently set the blanket wrapped bundle in Nanao's arms.

"Congratulations, you two have a healthy baby boy."

Shunsui peered over his wife's shoulder to get a good look at their child. Besides being a little squishy and red (but all babies were like that at first), their son had a head of raven fuzz as well as Nanao's nose. His eyes opened a bit, and Shunsui caught a glimpse of grey eyes. Overall, he would say his son was perfect. Shunsui reached out a finger and gently ran it down the child's cheek. Nanao just smiled up at him, her eyes bright.

"So I know you two have a name picked out, even if you've refused to tell anyone else what it is. Besides, I'm expected to give everyone a full update in order to settle the pool on the kid." Jyuushiro grinned at them from his spot in the doorway. "What's my godson's name?"

Shunsui traded a look with Nanao before answering. "Tatsuyoshi Kyoraku."

Jyuu nodded. "Congratulations, you two. I'll go deal with the crowd and fend off visitors until you're ready. But just to warn you, there are a number of people out there waiting to see that baby of yours. And not just because he won them money."

Shaking his head, Shunsui just settled on the bed next to Nanao. He pressed a soft kiss to her temple and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, looking down at their son. Everything had been more than worth it.


End file.
